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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Down we go, and the hiatus explained

So I took almost a month of hiatus from well, pretty much everything. Personal circumstances on top of daily perpetual stupidity is quite likely the cause - I don't really know. Sometimes things just get so crazy and intense you just stop caring altogether. You have to, to survive intact and able to move on.

Not that it really matters, the writing of what's ahead is on the wall everywhere you look. I'm just stating the obvious now as the number of probable outcomes continues to dwindle. I've felt unmotivated to blog my thoughts as a result, as to me it feels like why state the obvious if everyone now knows?

I've also reconnected with my long lost daughter. This is a good thing, a great thing! It's allowed me to do 'kid stuff'. Just a few weeks ago I was crawling thru the tubes at GalaxyLand chasing her around! We've took the Edmonton Highlevel Bridge Line. She has really given me a whole new aspect to my life, and for a time while with her why should I care about Iran? our actions? the economy?

Because these problems threaten her, that's why. For a time, I forgot that until I read news of massive anti-American uprisings in almost every Arab country and even further attempts to swindle the people of my hometown Edmonton. Fuck it, as hard as I might try, I care. Ignorance is an elusive luxury I cannot afford.

These uprisings, apparently triggered by an Anti-Islam film, should be of great concern to everyone in the western countries. The trigger is irrelevant as after a decade of pro-war propaganda racial hatred has been conditioned. The propaganda has had to walk a fine line between hatred and pity, to maintain a feeling of liberation and that we are "helping", but inevitably the pity aspect can easily be lost. The sheer volume is staggering, here is the list from the article:

A look at protests across the Middle East and elsewhere, four days
after crowds angry over an anti-Muslim film ridiculing the Prophet
Muhammad began assaulting a string of US embassies in the region:Egypt: Riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters
blocks away from the US Embassy in Cairo, killing one protester, as the
president broadcast an appeal to Muslims to protect embassies and tried
to patch up strained relations with Washington. After weekly prayers, a
crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square tore up an American flag, and waved a
black, Islamist flag. When protesters tried to move toward the embassy,
ranks of police confronted them, firing tear gas.Lebanon: Security forces opened fire in the
northeastern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing one person after a crowd
angry over the film set fire to a KFC and a Hardee's restaurant. About
25 people were wounded in the melee, including 18 policemen who were hit
by stones and glass.Sudan: Several hundred protesters stormed the German
Embassy in the capital, Khartoum, burning a car parked behind its gates
and trash cans before police firing tear gas drove them out. There
appeared to be no injuries to embassy staff and no apparent damage to
the building. Most protesters then dispersed, but one group marched to
the nearby British Embassy.Tunisia: A crowd of several thousand demonstrators
protested outside the US embassy in Tunis. Police responded to
stone-throwing with tear gas, leaving two people dead and 29 others
injured. An AP reporter on the scene witnessed several people overcome
by intense clouds of gas. An army helicopter flew overhead while
armoured vehicles protected the embassy.Yemen: Security forces shot live rounds into the air
and fired tear gas at a crowd of around 2000 protesters trying to march
to the US Embassy in the capital, Sanaa. Police kept the crowd at bay
about a block away. The overnight demonstration came a day after
hundreds stormed the embassy compound and burned the American flag.India: Thousands protested in the volatile
Indian-controlled region of Kashmir, burning US flags and calling
President Barack Obama a "terrorist". The top government cleric
reportedly demanded Americans leave immediately.
In the southern city of Chennai, protesters threw stones at the US
Consulate, shattering some windows and burning an effigy of Obama.
Police quickly cleared the area, arresting more than 100 protesters.Israel: Israeli police say about 400 people marched
toward the US consulate in east Jerusalem in protest over the prophet
film. Demonstrators threw bottles and stones at police, who responded by
firing stun grenades. Four protesters were arrested and the crowd was
prevented from reaching the US consulate.Bahrain: More than 2000 protesters chanted against the
film and burned American and Israeli flags after Friday prayers in
Diraz, outside the capital, Manama. Security forces were absent.
Separately, Bahrain's Interior Ministry ordered media regulators to
attempt to block access to the film clip.Bangladesh: Some 5000 hardline Muslims marched in the
streets of the capital, Dhaka, after Friday prayers, burning US and
Israeli flags and calling for the death of the filmmaker. Police
prevented them from marching toward the US Embassy several miles away.Afghanistan: About 1500 protested outside the eastern
city of Jalalabad, shouting "Death to America" and urging President
Hamid Karzai to sever relations with the US.Iraq: Hundreds demonstrated in Baghdad's northern Sunni
neighbourhood of Azamaiyah, some shouting: "No, no America! No, no to
Israel," and, "We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for our Prophet."
Dozens also marched in Baghdad's poor Sadr City district. In the
southern city of Basra, about 1000 took to the streets and burned
American and Israeli flags.
One banner said: "Freedom doesn't mean offending two billion Muslims."Iran: Thousands shouted "Death to America" and "Death
to Israel" in Tehran in a demonstration after Friday prayers. Some
burned American and Israeli flags. State TV says similar protests were
held in other Iranian cities.Pakistan: Hundreds of hardline Muslims held peaceful
protests against the film throughout Pakistan, shouting slogans and
carrying banners criticising the US and those involved in the film.
Police in Islamabad set up barricades and razor wire to block off a
diplomatic enclave where the US Embassy and many other foreign missions
are located.Syria: About 200 protesters waved the Syrian flag and
shouted anti-American slogans outside the long-closed US Embassy in
Damascus. The crowd held banners saying: "He who curses the Prophet
doesn't seek democracy" and "a nation whose Prophet is Muhammad, would
never kneel down."
The US embassy has been closed since February because of the country's bloody conflict that has killed about 23,000 people.Qatar: About 1000 protesters gathered outside the
heavily guarded US Embassy in the capital, Doha, chanting anti-US
slogans and calling for Washington to remove its military presence from
the strategic Gulf nation.
An influential cleric reminded worshippers that the American government
had no role in the film and that "loyalty to the Prophet is not
expressed by attacking embassies".Great Britain: In London, around 250 protesters marched
noisily but peacefully through Britain's capital to the US embassy. The
group, which called itself the "Defenders of The Prophet," held
placards denouncing the US and perceived Western imperialism.Turkey: Hundreds of people gathered in Istanbul's
Beyazit Square to protest the film. The protest was organised by
Turkey's main Islamist political party, Saadet.West Bank: In the city of Nablus, about 200 people
demonstrated against the film as Muslim clerics throughout the territory
preached against it in Friday sermons.

This has been brewing for a long time, I knew it, I'm sure you knew it, our government's knew it. It's important, because various western nations all depend on one or more of these countries for economic stability and affordable living for their own citizens and if they don't rely on one of these countries, then they rely on a country that does or one of these countries neighbors. War, like democracy, is a majority rule sport - and no matter how we view ourselves it will be the majority vote which determines whether we are the "good" or "bad". The video, like tuition fees here in Canada are symbolic and a focus of attention.

In the days before my hiatus I had posted several articles on Canada's economic well-being with a promise to blog about them later. Obviously, I never did, and though late - I think they are still relevant.

The Bank of Canada lacks the power to significantly alter the
U.S.-Canadian exchange rate. If, as a country, we wish to see a lower
Canadian dollar, we need to look to the federal government.

I have always maintained this was the case because the reasoning behind our strong dollar is a relative collapse in the U.S. dollar, except the federal government is pretty well powerless as well.It has nothing at all to do with dutch disease or other such concepts, it has to do with the fact that when compared with the American money printer extraordinaire Bernanke, we're not even in the same ball park. We could print day and night and not even make a dent in the U.S.'s figurative minimum monthly payments. One-to-one is the new ratio unless we decouple completely from the USD in which case it will fall beneath ours significantly.

"Recent changes to mortgage regulations were widely expected to
temper sales and prices in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, and
the data released today confirms that," said Wayne Moen, president of
CREA, noting the market has been impacted by changes to mortgage rules
which have made it tougher for consumers to borrow.

Gregory Klump,
chief economist with CREA said those rules have impacted some buyers
more than others. "Some first-time home buyers may have difficulty
qualifying for mortgage financing due to shortened amortization periods
included in recent changes to mortgage regulations."

Bullshit. Canada is no stranger to pretending everything is going as planned seemingly under the assumption that everyone must have a hidden money-tree they simply are choosing not to use. The mortgage rules are token policies, our housing bubble had already climaxed and now is slowly beginning to collapse. Anyone could have seen it coming, but don't panic, it's under control due to the policies in place, right? The confidence market needs confidence to stay afloat, so people now instead of losing confidence in the Canadian housing market have gained confidence in central banker policies. Even though it is their policies which created the problem in the first place in an effort to fix other parts of the economy. A shell game, but in the end nothing will be able to hide the drops in income and funding coming from external entities and I anticipate that despite slowly collapsing markets, Canadian household debt will continue to rise as the gap widens.

The hot-button issues - housing prices and household debt - don't
appear troubling at this point. But a global economic slowdown would
hurt Canada because it would drive down oil prices, in turn holding back
investment in the oil patch.

Indeed, Moody's cited the "increasing dependence" of the country on its oil sector.

"However,
the drop in prices that has taken place in 2012, combined with lower
demand in the U.S., could potentially have a significant impact on the
growth performance of the economy," it added in the report.

The rest of Moody's assessment is meaningless in light of this statement. It's like having one foot in the future and one in the past - not that you should put much stake in these rating agencies anyway they are clearly complicit in keeping this house of cards economy appearing legitimate. None-the-less this admittance is important as it shows how hard it is becoming to hide the truth about the situation.

Canada is on the wrong side of the demand on oil prices. The rest of the world needs lower prices to keep economic growth and momentum going but Canada/Alberta needs high prices. A contradiction of the worst kind.

Alberta's uh-oh moment seems to be just around the corner. With the exponential growth in oil price over and done with Alberta is going to realize that what they needed never was just high oil prices, but constantly growing oil prices. Today, what's cited as a "low" oil price is relatively higher than ever before, and yet still not enough.

Despite the worsening situation the Arena still seems to be Edmonton's primary focus. The Daryl Katz apologists are out in full force backed up by the retweeting power of David Staples.

I read one person he retweeted who said: "I moved downtown to enjoy the new arena". With financial sense like that, no wonder you want this project at any cost.

Conclusion

I took a month of hiatus and nothing has changed.

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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for eQube gaming systems.

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.